Recoup

Two lawsuits filed against some of Enron Corp.’s former management team and outside directors were partially settled last week. One will give ex-employees part of an $85 million insurance policy, while another brought $1.5 million for fines and the ex-employees’ fund.

Two lawsuits filed against some of Enron Corp.’s former management team and outside directors were partially settled this week. One will give ex-employees $85 million from an insurance policy, while another brought $1.5 million for fines and the ex-employees’ fund. Both lawsuits still require court approval, but they are only partial settlements; claims against former Chairman Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling remain unresolved.

Consolidated Edison Co. of New York’s (ConEd) push to recoup about $250 million in replacement power costs the utility incurred after shutting down its Indian Point nuclear power plant a couple of years ago vaulted a key legal hurdle last Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a lower court’s ruling finding that the company had a right to recover such costs.

Unsatisfied with the response to their pleas for electricity refunds, California officials took some solace in federal regulatory indications that there may be as much as a billion dollars in refunds to the state because of alleged natural gas border-price manipulations in the 2000-2001 time frame.

After a tempest of trading activity during the first three daysof the week, the futures market settled down Thursday to trademostly sideways amid light volume. Moderate trade-buying below the$2.32 level was the most notable feature of the day. But that wasenough for December to post an up-day-marked by higher highs andhigher lows-to start off its tenure as prompt month. The contractsettled at $2.348, a 2.4 cent gain for the session.

Traders returned Tuesday from a long weekend to find a much morerobust May cash market than they had left behind Friday. Many hadbeen impressed by the strong recovery of the June Henry Hub futurescontract Friday after it briefly dipped under $2, a Texas marketersaid. “We were immediately up to Friday’s highs as trading begantoday.” Weather demand wasn’t much of a factor as cool butcomfortable temperatures reign in the Midwest and Northeast marketareas, he added, “but there were still plenty of buyers up there.”